Kent Got That Funk

Yesterday I shared a list of recent press coverage for Kent, and as good as those news stories were, for me the best coverage comes from the real life that’s going on every day in Kent that speaks for itself.

Kent is not a scripted community, it’s more of a free-wheeling house party sort of place, so when we have scripted news conferences it tends to feel a bit out of sync with who we are, and it’s probably why we only do them about once every 2-3 years.

Kent’s never been much of a talking-head, choreographed City — we tend to favor more natural, organic and spontaneous events, which is why I’m particularly happy to share a clip off of YouTube that is arguably one of the best compilations of everything Kent in one package.

A couple of months back the Water Street Tavern hosted George Clinton and Parliment Funkadelic for a retro-night in downtown Kent that flat-out rocked the house. Kent’s musical reputation was built in the 1970’s when bands like Parliment Funkadelic topped the charts and their recent visit to Kent proved that Funk never goes out of style.

The standing room only crowd was filled with young, old, and everything in between rockin’ to the funkadelic beat. It was a visual extravaganza, with some of the oddest mixes that you’ll see — which is why it screamed Kent.

If Kent was to adopt an anthem, Give Up The Funk, would be it. It’s improvisational, unexpected twists and turns, with a driving hip-shaking backbone beat sums up Kent. It’s how Kent rolls.